Thanksgiving!

Today has been wonderful. I love thanksgiving for many reasons. I love spending time with family I never see. I love all the food (doesn't everyone). And I love all of the happiness it brings. A couple of quotes I recently found popped into my mind today and I thought I should share them with you. 

Max Lucado is one of my favorite Christian authors. And ever since I read this quote from him the other day, it has stuck in my mind. I waste a lot of time not doing these things. And it really hit me after reading this that I need to start now. First off, you should know I have a problem sometimes with simply letting go of things. Sometimes you have to realize that maybe something didn't work out, maybe you are disappointed in yourself, maybe someone disappointed you, but you need to just let it go. I need to remind myself more not to waste time dwelling on things when they don't go according to plan. I mean, after all, you never know what God is trying to do in your life. Something might not go how you planned it, but what about God's plan? We may not see it until years from now but God has a plan for you in everything you encounter. When I look back on things that have happened in my life, I realize what God was trying to do. And I'm thankful today that because of His goodness, I can be happy in the moment and not have to worry about what's going to happen next. God has things under control. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Late Night Thoughts

My mind has been a jumbled mess lately. I have had so many things on my mind that it has been driving me crazy! I realize this isn't good at all. One of the biggest things that has been on my mind lately is that I recently discovered that I have a huge lack of confidence! I'm sure many of you know what this feels like. Some days I feel great and I am just in a positive mood and other days I just feel kind of...down I guess. I have struggled with acne since I was in 5th or 6th grade and it has definitely taken a huge toll on my confidence levels. As bad as it sounds I sometimes avoid looking in the mirror in certain lighting because I know that its just going to make me feel bad about my skin. As silly as this sounds, I realized recently that I let my skin get in the way of living my life the way I want to. So, tonight I was just thinking about this and I was like "Leah, really? Are you listening to yourself?" I mean, I let something as small as a breakout ruin my positive mood! And I reminded myself that my blog is called "Simply Beautiful" so, shouldn't I feel beautiful? God doesn't want me to see myself in a negative light. As cliche as it may sound, God tells every one of us that we are beautiful. So, my challenge to myself and anyone reading this is to remind yourself that you are beautiful. God sees you beyond your flaws. And as it turns out, the major "flaws" we find in ourselves end up being small flaws that really mean nothing. And you never know who might find your flaws beautiful. We all have something we don't like about ourselves. But the truth is that God wants us to be confident and know that we are beautiful. I found this verse today and it fits perfectly into this post and it really stuck with me:

"You are altogether beautiful, my darling, beautiful in every way."

- Song of Solomon 4:7 

So, next time you are looking in the mirror at yourself picking out all of your flaws, remember this verse.

Thankful

I have yet to participate in the thankfulness posts so I decided that I would today. As I am sitting here relaxing all morning, I felt it was most appropriate to talk about thankfulness today.

I was re-reading some things from Love Does by Bob Goff, and I know what you're thinking, I have talked about this book already (probably too much). But, I was reading this passage about being a sincere friend and I have to say, I have some of the best friends in the world. But, there's a couple of things Bob says about being a friend: "You know what it is about someone that makes them a friend? A friend doesn't just say things; a friend does." and "If you are a sincere friend, folks around you will quickly understand that there's no hidden agenda and nothing on the other side of the equals sign, just you." I'm so thankful to be able to say that I have these kinds of friends. My friends are always there to listen to me vent and put up with my "giggle attacks" that happen quite often (sorry). Its just really awesome to be blessed with friends like mine in this world today where its extremely hard to find true friends. 

I am so thankful to get to wake up to this incredible view almost everyday lately:

I think this kind of view is a reminder each morning to be thankful. I mean, how could I possibly not be thankful when I get to see this almost everyday?

These verses have been sticking in my mind lately. So thankful!